This dull old building is in full-swing demo phase, to the studs! This was only the second project I took on although it’s just starting now in 2011. It’s composed of a double-wide lot, almost entirely covered by building with a 4′ back yard. We are remodeling it to have dwelling units and a commercial space at the street. The history of the building is long and somewhat spotty; old plans from the early 1900s show meeting rooms and commercial spaces. It was most recently used by a church congregation because it has a huge 50’x50′ room at the back. The current building is an ersatz version of the original, whose large-scale window shapes can be seen as the stucco is removed.Here are some early 1900s items found in the crawlspace when the floor was taken up. Prince Albert in a can! There was a mountain of bottle caps, sardine cans, some glass bottles, and other junk probably from the crew who built it originally. Most of the ‘junk’ was found just under this staircase in the dirt. Old lobby arches amidst a mountain of debris. We donated much of the large, intact redwood framing pieces to a scrap / reuse business Building Resources here in SF. I plan to have some of the salvaged wood used as interior siding. More salvaged plumbing fixtures seen below. (they’d make cool planters or garden sculptures..)Here’s the main room formerly used for church and the arched altar space. This stair was tucked inside some walls, and was probably originally open. We’ll carefully take this apart and donate all its pieces as well. A large (heavenly?) skylight above the old church space. The gabled roof is being dismantled and a flat roof put in its place – the inadequate trusses are sagging and would be too complex to retain. A lot of wood to salvage! More to come –